The present invention refers to a system which has been specially conceived to secure the electrical connection in fuses with an incorporated female terminal, with respect to male terminals arranged in turn in the corresponding distribution box.
The object of the invention is to prevent the occurrence of an axial shifting of the male terminals during the installation of the fuse holder box in the distribution box, and more specifically during the insertion of the male terminals belonging to the distribution box in the female terminals of the fuses, with the consequent loss of electrical connection.
The system of the invention proves especially applicable in the scope of the automobile industry, especially in the manufacture of electrical distribution boxes and the corresponding and complementary fuse holder boxes thereof.
In the preferred scope of practical application of the invention, that of electrical distribution boxes used in automotive vehicles, it is common for housings to be arranged in said boxes for the male terminals of the different circuits, said circuits being subsequently closed by means of respective fuses provided with female terminals which are complementary to the aforementioned male terminals.
The male terminals are introduced through the lower part of the distribution box, and are assisted by resilient side retainers provided with a lug of a triangular or right-angled trapezium profile, such that said lug allows and facilitates the installation of the corresponding male terminal, until reaching a small window in the terminal itself, the interior of which it gains access to by elastic recovery of the retainer itself and where it immobilizes the male terminal once this suitably projects from the upper base of the distribution box, preventing the retraction thereof when this enters the female terminal of the complementary fuse.
This solution, perfectly valid from the theoretical point of view, in practice presents assembly problems derived from the fact that when an anomaly occurs in the meeting between male terminal and female terminal, the excess force applied on introduction of the male terminal belonging to the distribution box into the female terminal of the fuse arranged in the fuse box generates in turn an excess pressure of the male terminal with respect to the corresponding resilient retainer, which can end up forcing the latter to uncouple its lug from the window of the male terminal, as a result of which this is pushed and shifted outwards from the distribution box, through the lower side thereof, not penetrating into the female terminal of the fuse and, consequently, the due electrical connection between both terminals not being carried out.
In other circumstances, this situation is reached as a result of the vibrations of the vehicle in the normal operation thereof, vibrations which can also cause the uncoupling of the lug or resilient retainer from the complementary window of the male terminal, as a result of which, and also due to the same vibrations, the male terminal is in a position to begin a progressively downward movement, uncoupling itself from the female terminal, until the electrical connection is undone.
The system proposed by the invention solves the problems previously set forth in an entirely satisfactory manner, securing the electrical connection between each and every one of the male terminals of the distribution box and the complementary female terminals thereof belonging to the fuses, which connection is maintained undisturbed indefinitely over time.
To this end and more specifically, said system consists of providing the fuse holder box, in which the fuses with a female terminal are housed, with lower extensions which penetrate in the distribution box before the male terminals thereof do so in the female terminals of the fuse holder box, these fixed extensions of the fuse holder box being of suitable number and position so as to laterally act on the resilient retainers for fixing the male terminals, such that once the fuse holder boxes have been duly installed in the distribution box, or even before the electrical connection between terminals is produced, a lateral immobilization of the resilient retainers is produced, inevitably ensuring that the male terminals will in turn remain immobilized in their respective housings, both against any anomalous axial or longitudinal force and against the effects of the vibrations.